The present invention relates to flanges for use with pitched roofs to permit pipes arranged substantially horizontally to the ground to enter the roof while preventing any moisture from leaking or seeping through the roof or around the pipe.
There are presently known, numerous examples of flanges and flashings which are intended to provide a weather-tight seal for vertical pipes entering a sloping roof. Such flanges are typically formed of metal and have a frustoconical upstanding portion which encircles the vertical pipe. Sealing compound such as roofing cement, tar, or the like, is then typically poured around the area where the pipe meets the frustoconical neck of the flashing and also where the flashing meets the roof. More recently, resilient O-rings have been mounted inside the upstanding portion of the flashing as to form a seal without the need for sealing compound. Additionally, roof flanges are well-known for use with vent pipes that terminate only a short distance above the roof surface. These roof flanges are provided with tab portions at the opening and, once the pipe has been arranged to protrude through the roof, the flange is then placed over the protruding pipe and the tabs of the flange turned down over the exposed open end of the vent pipe. The lower part of the flange is then sealed to the roof, thereby preventing any moisture or the like from entering the area where the vent pipe exits the roof.
However, none of these known flanges or flashings have proven to be useful when used in a situation involving pipes arranged substantially horizontally to the ground and which enter a sloped or pitched shingled roof. Due to the recent increase in the use of solar energy collectors, which are intended to be mounted on the roofs of dwellings, a need has arisen for some suitable flashing means to permit a horizontal pipe to enter a pitched, shingled roof. Since most solar energy collectors utilize a liquid, either water or some other fluid, as the heat transfer medium and are generally located upon the dwelling roof, at least two of these pipes are required to enter the sloped roof of the dwelling. The flanges and flashings currently available have not proven satisfactory in the horizontal pipe situation, since almost all of the current designs of roof flashings utilize the frustoconical upstanding portions which do not blend in with the roof line of the building and which provide such an extreme angle that the pipe cannot enter the roof in its intended horizontal orientation.